(July 16): JD Vance branded China the biggest threat to America in one of his first interviews since being named Donald Trump’s running mate, underscoring the likely hawkish stance of their administration towards Beijing if elected.

The Ohio Senator made the remarks in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday local time. When asked about the war in Ukraine, Vance said Trump would negotiate with Moscow and Kyiv to “bring this thing to a rapid close so America can focus on the real issue, which is China.”

“That’s the biggest threat to our country and we are completely distracted from it,” he said, shortly after joining the Republican presidential ticket.

President Joe Biden and his challenger Trump are jockeying to be seen as tough on China as they head toward an election rematch in November. Trump has promised to hike tariffs on China across the board if re-elected, vowing a 60% tax on all Chinese imports. Biden has already announced a new 100% levy on electric cars from the world’s No 2 economy.

US spies believe that China has no clear preference between the two candidates, Bloomberg News previously reported.

Vance, 39, was tapped by Trump days after a failed assassination attempt on the former president upended what had already been a chaotic presidential contest.

It’s not the first time Vance has criticised China. The venture capitalist-turned-senator previously called for “broad-based tariffs” on Chinese goods and advocated for bringing American manufacturing back home to reduce dependency on Beijing.

Uploaded by Surin Murugiah